Pushpa Kamal Dahal

Pushpa Kamal Dahal (11 December 1954-), also known as Prachanda, was Prime Minister of Nepal from 18 August 2008 to 25 May 2009 (succeeding Girija Prasad Koirala and preceding Madhav Kumar Nepal) and from 4 August 2016 to 7 June 2017 (succeeding Khadga Prasad Oli and preceding Sher Bahadur Deuba). As leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), he overthrew the Nepalese monarchy and created a republic.

Biography
Pushpa Kamal Dahal was born in Dhikur Pokhari, Nepal in 1954 to a Brahmin family, and he was raised in Chitwan. He joined the Communist Party of Nepal in 1981 and became general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) in 1989, controlling the clandestine wing of the party even after its legalization in 1990. From 1996 to 2006, he led CPN(M) in establishing control over Nepal's mountainous and western regions. In 2006, the government made peace with the rebels and abolished the monarchy, creating a republic in its place; in 2008, CPN(M) emerged as the largest party in the country. Dahal served as Prime Minister from 2008 to 2009, when his attempt to fire army chief Rookmangud Katawal led to President Ram Baran Yadav forcing him to resign. He returned as Prime Minister from 2016 to 2017, and he became the first leader of the Nepal Communist Party in 2018.